1D One Shots/Sickfics

Liam's cold (sickfic)

For Raine_Lor

Liam's POV

Last night I had a mildly sore throat when I went to bed, but I assumed it was just from all the recording I had done during the day. That hope was dashed when I woke up at 4 am, completely unable to breathe through my nose and with a throat so parched it was hard to convince it to swallow water. To make matters worse, the water didn't even help because the movement of swallowing caused so much pain. This morning when I woke up, I was completely pissed off at this cold that had decided to make it's home in my body so suddenly.

Now I'm on the way to the studio, travel mug full of tea in the cupholder of my car. I didn't manage to eat any breakfast because my throat is just too sore. After parking my car, I sit for a minute, take a few sips of tea, and say a few words out loud to myself to get my voice warmed up. I need it to be functional if we're going to be recording in the studio today.

"Morning, Li!" Niall greets me cheerily as I step into the room where we've been writing, a cozy space with couches and beanbags as well as several guitars and a keyboard to help work on melodies.

"Hey Ni." I smile, holding back the urge to cough after speaking just those two small words. I make my way over to a couch, lowering my stiff body down and holding tightly to my mug of tea.

Niall frowns. "You alright, Li? Your voice sounds a little off."

"I'm alright, think I just overworked it a little yesterday." There's no point telling them I'm not feeling well, I'm stuck here working anyways. I don't need them making a big fuss over me when there's nothing they can do about it. Besides, I don't like being the center of attention.

I pull out the notebook that I've been using to brainstorm song ideas and settle in to work, discretely wiping my nose and clearing my throat from time to time. I can feel the others looking at me once in a while, but I ignore it.

After a bit, I move over to the piano and start playing with some melodies, humming along very lightly so as not to hurt my throat, as my tea is long finished. Louis comes over to join me, squishing himself onto the piano bench next to me and peering at my notebook.

"You know, I think it would sound good if you went up instead of down at the end of that line," he suggests, pushing my hands out of the way and playing an alternate melody, singing it much louder than I have been.

"Hmm, no that's not quite right." I frown at my page, then finger a new series of notes. Much better. I play them again, singing very softly.

Louis looks at me. "Are you sick, Li? Your voice doesn't sound very good."

"I'm alright, Lou. Just sang a little too much yesterday I think." I start working out the melody for the bridge before he can ask any more questions.

I'm almost done the basic framework of the song when I get called into the recording booth to finish my parts on the song we were working on yesterday. Wonderful. This is not going to be good for my throat.

The instant I get into the booth, I let out an unexpected series of five sneezes.

"You good there, lad?" the guy at the sound board asks. "You don't need to do this today if you're not feeling well. We've got plenty of parts for the others to work on."

"No, I'm fine, I can do it!" I insist, getting myself set up behind the microphone.

A few seconds later, the music comes flooding through the headphones. It makes my head pound, but I do my best to sing well, and I think it works. We work through several songs before my voice starts breaking and giving out.